Tourists won’t stoop to thuggish play
1 Jul 2009
British & Irish Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree says the Schalk Burger incident has upset the side but there won’t be any directive to exact revenge.
Burger received an eight-week ban for eye gouging Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald, yet the Lions’ have been incensed by the Springboks’ refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Their main point of criticism is Springbok coach Peter de Villiers’s remark that ‘it’s part of the game’, which SA Rugby has since sought to clarify.
The controversy this week is sure to add an edge to Saturday’s third and final Test at Ellis Park, but Rowntree maintains that while it will be intensely physical, they would in no way transgress the laws.
‘We’re upset by his [De Villiers’s] comments, they were crass and there’s absolutely no place in the game for eye-gouging,’ Rowntree told keo.co.za.
‘How a player can think he could get away with that is beyond me. I don’t know what would make a guy want to do that.
‘That said, we have a highly professional squad. As far as we are concerned the issue is done and dusted, and our frustration won’t spill over into the match.’
Rowntree added that the Lions had lost some respect for Burger, and added that no official or unofficial apology was forthcoming from the Springbok flanker.
Referring to De Villiers’s persistent defence of Burger, he said there were times when coaches had to support players who were under fire, but stressed that this certainly wasn’t one of them. ‘Eye gouging is indefensible,’ he said.
Turning his attention to Saturday’s Test, Rowntree said there was no question that they would be able to summon the motivation to compete strongly in a dead rubber.
‘We’re battered and bruised physically and emotionally but we must go on,’ he said.
‘We probably don’t deserve to be 2-0 down. We were gutted that the scrums went to uncontested in the second test, we stopped their driving mauls well and we were good at the breakdown. So there were lots of positives for us.
‘They’ll try and go for the whitewash because they’ll think we’re on the ropes. It’s true that our squad is being held together by Elastoplast, but believe me, we have plenty in the tank.’
By Ryan Vrede, in Johannesburg
466 Comments
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2 Jul 2009, 12:01 pm
Ah tickles – please review the Flavell storey then comment – don’t be childish – yes he did, no he didn’t. If that’s your tack – a gouge is a gouge is a gouge then Sheridan has to get “at least yellow” (red by the rules) and/or be cited, no flexibility. Rugby as its evolved isn’t like that. Flexibility / double standards has emerged and while sickening, the pro game has evolved accordingly. Some species have evolved more than others. SA least of all.
Same to you Waka; I accept your point I’m just countering to show there are degrees, as recognised by the on field punishments, citings, disciplinary measures and appeals.
You say debate, I say whine and vice versa.
2 Jul 2009, 12:12 pm
#404 bluealligator:
Lol! Poor simple Dutchm@n can’t understand that someone other than a Pom, Kiwi or Australian would criticise them. Poor stupid Dutchie brain won’t compute.
I will help you then. Eire is an independent country. It has been for longer than your **** hole of a country. We won our war with the Poms, whereas you had your @rses handed to you on a plate. Many Irish soldiers served with the British in the Boer war. We kicked your @rses and enjoyed your women.
The clue that we are not Poms is in the name of the tourists title ‘British AND IRISH Lions’. I know you Dutchmen are simple folk but you nonetheless you really should have realised this before.
Insofar as concerns your comments re titles, there are plenty of famous titled Irishmen. Arthur Wellesley being one name from history and the Guinness family are the first family in Ireland. There are plenty more titled Irishmen.
I have probably taxed those poor stupid brains of yours too much now, so I will leave you to scratch your heads in tune to your ANC organ grinders.
P.S. here is that clip of Blue-oyster-bar Bakkies enjoying his free time again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTJMerul33E
2 Jul 2009, 12:23 pm
The Lions keep comlaining that Schalk is a dirty player and have now branded S.A Rugby as dirty!
HOW QUICKLY THEY FORGOT THAT THERE OWN QUINLAN WAS RULED OUT OF THE LIONS TOUR BECAUSE HE WAS BANNED FOR EYE GOUGING!!!!
Maybe a S.A journolist should ask them the question….:)
2 Jul 2009, 12:24 pm
#445 gunther:
Actually I reckon I know what your/BokFan1/Whatever/HeavensGame’s problem is.
Despite everyone praising the Boks, rightly, for winning in absolutely sumptious style and therefore winning the Series (in hindsight, it was really won in the first 50mins at Kings Park), this does not seem enough. No, nowhere near enough.
Post-match discussion has focussed amongst other things on, rightly, the eye-gouging and, rightly or wrongly, the Bakkies banning. This has pricked the macho ego of the locals who have acted as if this was a direct assault on their right to have won the match and the respect that should accompany that victory.
Fair enough. They have won a very tough Series against respectable opponents. And they havent done that in over 10years (1998), so the joy is understandable. Unremitted bountiful joy !
The problem is that the issue of Burger has become somewhat of a bugbear. How many comments have we seen here that just want to “move on…….he’s been banned……whatever…….you’ve all done it too y’know !”.
Why so much sensitivity ? Maybe its a national thing seeping all the way down from PdVs rather insane attempt to validate the foul play ? That did noone any favours. Maybe its a “good, the little Oirish c*nt deserved it” ? Who knows.
I reckon it goes back a bit further than all that. For years all we have heard about is the Boks being deprived of victory on SO many occassions by acts of conspiracy, illegality and plain old racism (dont forget that one, its kinda like a ‘catchall’ and one, incidentally, that noone else “understands” but them). So when SA teams lost (and it was more often than they do now) it was always the ref that cheated them, or the travel that drained them, or the politicians that owned them, or the coaching was poor, or that the rand was weak or that the players had left them or that their players were banned for longer or…..or….well, often the other winning team was just plain LUCKY. They might have won, but they were lucky.
Which brings us back to the point.
Luck.
This whole Burger thing and the he-said she-said counter-accusations of filth seem to be disguising one Inconvenient Truth.
The locals just dont want to acknowledge that on ONE occassion in their whole long history of World rugby domination, that they actually WON a single Test match that was based on the one sole premise of LUCK.
Yep, 15 men deservedly won that Test, and as a 15man team they were BETTER than the Lions. They were supreme as 15 and noone denies that. The comeback required not only great skill but also BMT. And you cant ask for much better than that.
But lucky ? They were luckier than Lady Luck of Lucksville who rode a 3-legged Wheel of Fortune to the Grand National Lotto Stakes victory at the Kenlucky Derby.
And they just dont want to admit it.
2 Jul 2009, 13:15 pm
#454 BlackPanther:
very good in psuedo psycho-analysis….
were we lucky to win? yes
did we deserve to win ? in my opinion yes…
so whats your point? and why is it such a big issue for you?
you have gone on about precious little else for days now.
what are you trying to prove?
there are no facts in rugby other than records and statistics a clever boy like you should know that …. and the facts are 2-0 .. sorry if that disappoints you…
2 Jul 2009, 13:17 pm
#452 Sir_Charles_Napier:
yawn …. why don’t you go and find an altar boy to play with…
2 Jul 2009, 13:39 pm
De Villiers “eye gouging” quotes here at http://www.devillisms.webs.com enjoy!
2 Jul 2009, 14:13 pm
#455 gunther:
the point ?
the point you say.
Well there you go Gunther, you appear to have got it in One.
That despite acknowledging the Boks ‘luck’ in victory, you still believed they ‘deserved’ it.
Is that possible ?
So when the Irish won at Landsdowne Rd, it was not thru their luck that the ref was a cheat, but that they deserved it because they were better.
So that when SA S12/14 teams couldnt buy a win on the road, it was not thru the lucky Kiwis and Aussies not having travel problems, but that they deserved it because they were better.
So that when the Boks couldnt win away or lift the TriN, it was not because of the cheating conspiracy of Aus/NZ referees, it was that they deserved it because they were better.
So that when the SA teams selected players from non-traditional backgrounds, then their teams were not weakened, but that the opposition deserved victory because they were better.
and so forth….
See how many desperadoes on this site, including yourself, who have repeatedly stated, as if fact, that the Boks are ‘the Best Team in the World’ despite the fact that theyre not, theyre no2. They cant beat the no1 team, last time they couldnt even score points against them. So who says they deserve to be no1 ?
So when the Boks finally show that they deserved to win, but that they were lucky, they want the best of both Worlds – lucky AND deserved.
That seems to be the problem then doesnt it, Gunther. You cant really have both. Why should you – you dont seem to think other teams can ?!
2 Jul 2009, 14:15 pm
as saffricans we love to whine when things do not go our way/ we are the trampled party – remember when thorne picked up fat mat and dropped him on his ar*e, saffricans complained big time – but now that a saffrican has been bust, the party line is that rugby is a tough game. Yes it is but then acceot the rulings of the citing board/IRB and move on.
2 Jul 2009, 14:26 pm
#459 weepeesux:
ah yes, the trampled party. I refer to my Safa colleagues as the Cult of Persecution because, apparently, everyone is out to get them.
Funny you mention Thorn picking up Smit, the moaning never stopped. And yet the most recent but by no means first flying-headbutt perfectly executed by its inventor, B.Botha Esq, has suddenly taekn on a level of Holiness only Gabriel can imagine. A simple clearout, they say. Quite.
2 Jul 2009, 14:37 pm
#459 BlackPanther:
bru what is your problem…. I have NEVER said the boks are the best team in the world I do believe you can be lucky and deserve it like Gary Player said, the more I practise the luckier I get! howve enjoy your crusade of rid the world of one-eyed bok fans…
2 Jul 2009, 14:46 pm
#461 gunther:
I dont propose to take on the impossible. Havent got enough time anyway, Im off to find Bin Laden.
It would be great to 1 day see the Safas acknowledge another team as better without a long list provisos attached but I fear not in my lifetime.
2 Jul 2009, 15:06 pm
#463 BlackPanther:
i hope you find closure … its clearly an issue for you..
2 Jul 2009, 15:16 pm
#463 gunther:
au contraire, its not an issue for me whatsoever. For you, the issue is much closer at hand.
Kia kaha.
2 Jul 2009, 17:29 pm
Can any London-based person get hold of the Daily Mirror from June 27 p.66? Apparently a photo in it shows O’Driscoll gouging Bismark in the first test. I haven’t seen it myself, but saw it mentioned by a blogger in Shane William’s colun in the Telegraph. Can anyone find confirmation?
2 Jul 2009, 18:12 pm
#465 rich1:
Who buys the Mirror ?
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